UNIQUE GARLIC; HEALTH BENEFIT AND RECIPE

Dear Olivers and Olivienes, I told you from the last post that we shall look at other families of ginger, so our next stop is Garlic.

Its central Asian origin has not prevented this pungent smelling bulb from finding its way into the culinary and medicinal cook book of Europe, Africa and the Mediterranean region.

Garlic has proven to be strong and unique even with its close association with popular bulbs like Onions. It is majorly used alongside onion and ginger. Various species of garlic exist with one specie surviving better in temperate or almost temperate region and the other type can be cultivated near the equator.

 

EXTRACTION

 

Garlic can be extracted by peeling out the skin and eating fresh, by roasting, crushing or by cooking

 

STORAGE

 

 

Always buy fresh garlic. You can discover how fresh the garlic you’re about to buy is by pressing it in between your fingers. Make sure it is hard and not soft or damp.

Garlic can be stored at room temperature in a cool dry place away from heat.

Some people would peel garlic and freeze it but this is not necessary as garlic can remain fresh for as long as one month.

BENEFIT  

Garlic produces an active chemical ingredient called allin and allicin that is effective is many conditions like;

1.       Garlic has been found to have positive cardiovascular effect and it reduces cholesterol collection in the body

2.       Garlic is also known to help regulate blood sugar including preventing complications for patients with diabetes mellitus

3.       It has been found to have good antimicrobial activity (very effective as a mouth wash)

4.       It’s also a very effective disinfectant

5.       Garlic is used to relieve chest pain, indigestion and fungus infection

6.        Its helps in the absorption of thiamin hence helps you not to have beriberi

7.       It has high Vitamin C content

8.       It has also been found to prevent scurvy

9.       It was successfully used to treat AIDS patients with Cryptosporidium in an uncontrolled experiment in China

10.   Garlic supplements is effective in boosting testosterone

11.   Garlic has been found to be superior to placebo in treating uncontrolled hypertension

12.   Its juice can be used as glue and adhesive for glass and porcelain

13.   It is environmentally friendly herbicide and insecticide approved for use in Europe

14.   Mixed with cinnamon, garlic can be used as food preservative in as high a temperature as 120 degrees Celsius

15.   It is believed to help prevent food poisoning

16.   It is also believed to help reduce the chances of having cancer

17.   Garlic is known to help relieve and prevent harden of arteries; as we age, our arteries tend to lose its elasticity garlic helps relieve / prevent this condition

18.   To increase the health benefit of garlic let it sit a while (about 30seconds) after chopping before changing the temperature or ph

19.   It aids the digestion of iron into the body

 COOKING;

To cook garlic make sure you add it to the food towards the end of your cooking so that you do not lose all the healthy benefit lost over prolonged heating.

Garlic can be used to spice soups and to stuff poultry or game

The leaves can be chopped and used in frying eggs or garnishing dishes

RECIPE:

Fried eggs garnished with garlic leaves

INGREDIENTS

Eggs: 4

Seasoning

Groundnut oil

Garlic leaves

Pepper

Onions

PREPARATION;

Break your eggs and beat till even, add seasoning and leave then heat your oil and add pepper after frying a bit pour your eggs and garlic leaves and onions with some seasoning to taste. Leave to simmer and you can eat with bread, yam….

 

CAUTION;

1.       Garlic is known to cause bad breath and pungent sweat, so if you take garlic take it along with milk. This has been found effective in reducing the smell than plain water mushroom or anything else.  

2.       It is preferable to cook your garlic before consuming because one of the side effects of eating raw garlic especially the old mature bulb is that it could cause inflammation in the spine area

3.       Some people may be allergic to garlic. Symptoms include diarrhea, ulceration, and nausea. This class of people usually also are allergic to onions, ginger and even banana

4.       Don’t use raw garlic to treat acne or other skin issues because it has been known for causing burns. One way to test this is to apply a low concentration of garlic to a small area of the skin to see how you react. Whichever way it turns don’t apply raw garlic to body cavities

5.       Patients on insulin should not take medicinal dose of garlic unless prescribed by their doctor because it usually interacts with medicines.

6.       Garlic is could lead to bleeding and blood loss at surgery (stop consuming garlic at least two weeks before a schedule surgery) though cooked garlic is generally safe

 

Till next time stay healthy wealthy and wise.